The Top 5 Reasons World of Warcraft is the Best MMOG

There has been a lot of talk about players being upset with Cataclysm, the de facto standard of the vocal minority who like to spend their weekends chattering away about the downfall of WoW and the rise of the glorious <insert game name>.Â So instead of focusing on why WoW is going downhill, let’s look at the top five reasons WoW kicks some major butt. That way, the next time one of those naysayers show up, you can throw this right in the face and begin a proper neener neener.

The first compelling reason that World of Warcraft is the best MMOG out there is:

You are never alone in Azeroth

Yes, it may sound a bit creepy, but you are never alone when exploring Azeroth. There is always someone in almost every zone on every server and the game population is massive. Low population means that you don’t have to turn your graphics settings off when walking in your faction’s capital city, not that the server is almost empty. There are a few exceptions to this rule (a few unsuccessful servers with a “normal” population), but in total most servers are jammed full of players.

I spend a lot of time playing free-to-play MMOGs casually as something to pass the time, so I speak from a lot of experience when I say this is, in itself, the number one thing that makes WoW what it is. A lot of games have died just from the lack of interest and an MMOG is not fun without other players. In a lot of F2P games, you’ll need to log into the most populated server and even then you’ll often go hours before you see another player. In WoW, that really isn't an issue.

Endless content means endless fun in Azeroth.

There is always something to do when it comes to spending time in Azeroth. There is always someone, somewhere that could use your help and that help will advance your character. Only a small, very small, population of players have completed every trial and gained every bit of “best in slot” gear in addition to farmed all of the achievements, obtained all of the pets, or whatever else fits their fancy for their playstyle. No matter what you want to do, WoW has the content for you.

We take this for granted a lot, but comparing WoW to other MMOGs out there will show us just how ungrateful we should be for the sheer amount of content given to us. Most games give you a single linear quest chain going from one zone to another (there is no picking where you want to level), followed by a very few dungeons dedicated to the those players who stuck out the RMT begging system until the end which are mostly devoid of anyone in favor of just sitting in town chatting, as if they’re more graphical chat rooms than actual games.

We might all complain that the updates are few and far between, but that’s not true compared to other games that wait years between updates while we wait just months (and get to enjoy the hype wagon the entire ride). Sure, I’d love to see more frequent updates, but what we have now is already pretty good in comparison.

The value for your money is insane compared to modern standards.

We used to say that WoW was more expensive than Netflix and a lot of people placed it before WoW on the entertainment scale, but that’s kind of gone wayward with Netflix pretty much raising prices. WoW costs the same as a single movie ticket each month but you could get 100s of hours (depending on your dedication) of entertainment and joy. Should you not see the amount of time you’re playing equaling out to a great value then there is a F2P option available.

Free-to-play games bring in a lot of players on the basis that they’re free, but there are a ton of hidden charges. Often you’ll be walking and pondering “hrm, a mount would be good right now.” Well, you load up to buy a mount and find that you can rent it for a day for $0.50, a week for $1.99, a month for $4.99, or a year for $19.99. Repeat the process for quick travel, a “normal” leveling curve, potions to remove debuffs (in some games), and more and you’ll find yourself paying $30~$40 a month to be competitive.

So at the end of the day, WoW is a great value. Even compared to subscription based MMOs, we get all of the other features for the same price and no RMT store (except for non-game changing items and character transfers). That’s a win/win in my book.

There is nothing like community.

Remember how I spoke about the legions of WoW players that are in the game? Â Well, how about that playing into another one of the biggest compelling reasons for why WoW rocks? With great players come great community (a Spider Man reference for those of you on grammar patrol). Those of you out there, who I presume play WoW, are a part of a large group of people who work tirelessly sharing information, working on add-ons, building tools for players, participating in forums, or helping out wherever possible.

WoW has the strongest and largest community for any MMOG out there and the community rocks. You’ve got addon authors who work tirelessly on producing some of the most kick butt add-ons out there (like PlayerScore for instance). You’ve got communities dedicated to everything from non-combat pets to tanking and beyond with helpful members. The list just goes on and on and on.

Not to mention in the game, while trade chat is “troll chat,” you can still find tons of helpful enjoyable players, guilds that are full of kindhearted players, and an expanse of good will and happiness within the very soul of the community. That, in itself, is a huge plus for WoW.

The game is the most complete experience available.

We haven’t really talked about the true meat and potatoes and that’s the game itself. You won’t find a more polished MMOG out there. The combat is smooth and fluid, the jump animations (which we know are the most important thing to any game out there) are amazing, and movement lacks any jerkiness or rubber banding. Skills are diverse and each class has its own niche (and its own abilities).

Most games out there actually share skills between classes. You’re lucky if they even rename them. Not to mention most classes are usually unbalanced to the point you need to do research on which class to play or you get stuck with something that can’t even level up (much less be competitive). Even with AAA titles, you don’t see as much definition to the classes as you do with WoW.

Then there is the content. Leveling up in WoW is easy and a streamlined experience. You have way more quests then you can complete making it very simple to reach max level. Then once you reach max level, as mentioned before, there is a ton of content for you to do (instead of just one or two dungeons to raid).

The game’s graphics still are not dated even after all of these years, yet the game runs smoothly even on laptops and some high-end netbooks. Â So you don’t need to post “hey what new computer should I buy to play WoW on?” when almost anything made in the last five years can run it.

Overall there are a lot of awesome reasons to play and enjoy WoW. Sure, some players are a bit burned out, but that shouldn’t stop the rest of us from enjoying the game. What do you think about WoW? Enjoying it deeply or are you thinking of moving on to the next big thing? Let us know in the comment section below.